Call Your Senators to Support S.54, Which Would Prevent Creation of a Muslim Registry

On the campaign trail, Donald Trump voiced support for banning Muslims from immigrating to the United States. In January, he signed an executive order that attempted just that, causing chaos and strife at airports across the country.

He also voiced support for a Muslim registry–creating a database of Muslim immigrants. Many fear that he might try to make it happen.

It won’t be as easy as it could have been; between the election and the inauguration, Barack Obama’s administration moved to dismantle the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System (NSEERS), a program that was put in place after 9/11 that had gone dormant, but could have been revived and repurposed by Trump.

Members of Congress are stepping up as well. Call your senators and ask them to support S.54, which is designed to prevent creation of a Muslim registry.

Introduced by New Jersey Senator Cory Booker, who has called it the Protect American Families Act, S. 54 forbids the federal government from making any “immigration-related registry programs that classify people based on religion, race, age, gender, ethnicity, national origin, or nationality.”

Sample script: “Hello, I am (Firstname Lastname, from town, zip code,) and I would like Senator (Lastname) to support S.54, the Protect American Families Act. It was introduced by Cory Booker and it would forbid the federal government from creating a Muslim registry. When he was campaigning, Donald Trump had expressed interest in a Muslim registry. He has already tried to implement a Muslim ban. Let’s pass a law against a blatantly unconstitutional registry before he has a chance to try.”

IMPORTANT NOTE: You will notice, in checking the GovTrack links below, that PredictGov gives the bill a one percent chance of passing. Yes, this could be one of those 97 percent of bills that goes nowhere.

That said, we at OTYCD realize that pushing back against the creation of a Muslim registry is important to you. This is why we chose to devote a post to this bill, even though it is a long shot. We also chose to cover it because it leads to a positive action–asking you to support a bill that most of us would like to see become law. OTYCD is far less likely to ask you to spend energy opposing a nasty, scary bill that probably won’t become law.

If you don’t think this is the most important thing you can do today, you are welcome to head to the “Want To Do More?” page and pick something else.